Campus announcements
UCT Annual Staff Awards and other updates
06 December 2023Dear colleagues and students
The University of Cape Town (UCT) honoured and celebrated outstanding staff at the 2023 UCT Annual Staff Awards on 23 November 2023. Read about this and other developments on campus.
1. Celebrating excellence at the 2023 UCT Annual Staff Awards
UCT celebrated and honoured just over 500 professional, administrative and support service (PASS) and academic staff during the 2023 UCT Annual Staff Awards. The evening was dedicated to recognition of colleagues who have contributed significantly to UCT over the years and had outstanding achievements. The ceremony brought under one roof PASS staff; and academic, technical and research staff in a memorable evening of celebrating excellence. Awards were presented in categories that included ad hominem promotions, long service, and the Vice-Chancellor’s Excellence Awards. This year, altogether eight award categories were included in the proceedings.
2. Upcoming AGM of the UCT Convocation
A reminder that the UCT Convocation will convene its Annual General Meeting (AGM) virtually on Thursday, 7 December 2023 at 17:00. The AGM takes place in accordance with the UCT Statute. It is restricted to members of Convocation. The membership consist of UCT graduates and all holders of diplomas and credit-bearing certificates of the university; the vice-chancellor, the deputy vice-chancellors and the academic staff; and former professors and associate professors elected by the Senate to be emeritus professors or emeritus associate professors.
3. Get your data and IT in order before the holidays
If you’re graduating, retiring, leaving UCT, or just taking some time off, please get your IT in order before departing.
- Read ICTS’s tips for going on leave.
- Read ICTS’s advice for those retiring or leaving UCT (both staff and students).
4. Digitisation of Postgraduate Funding Office processes
A thorough review of the processes and practices of the Postgraduate and Postdoctoral Funding Office (PGFO) is underway with the aim of creating efficiencies and improving turnaround times. This forms part of the Research Support Transformation (RST) project. The PGFO processes postgraduate financial aid, postgraduate scholarships and postdoctoral fellowships. One of the key improvements planned in this space is the digitisation of certain current manual and largely paper-based processes to improve efficiency and reduce processing times.
To this end, the project team is working closely with the Information and Communication Technology Services (ICTS) department to digitise repetitive, manual process steps and to prioritise system development requirements. A Project Implementation Committee (PIC) consisting of a representative group of stakeholders has been formed and meets regularly to ensure the project is properly governed and managed. Digitisation is expected to lead to improvements in turnaround times and make the process of applying for and receiving funding more navigable, transparent and user friendly for all parties involved.
5. Appointment of Dean of Science
Professor Hussein Suleman has been appointed as the Dean of Science with effect from 1 January 2024. Professor Suleman has a long history with UCT. He joined the university as a senior lecturer in the Department of Computer Science in 2003 and worked his way up to his current position as head of the department. Professor Suleman has served in various leadership and administrative roles at UCT. These include stints as acting director of the School of Information Technology, employment equity representative on faculty selection committees, and chair of the Faculty Transformation Committee.
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